Amy Herman

And two things struck me.

I was looking at the painting, but I was also looking at all the people looking at the Mona Lisa.

But if you and I are standing in the gallery, it looks like we're both looking at the Mona Lisa, but I wasn't looking at the Mona Lisa at all.

I was watching all the people looking at the Mona Lisa.

And the other thing that struck me is directly on the wall behind the gallery where the Mona Lisa is, is another da Vinci painting and no one was standing in front of that one.

There are so many subtleties and nuances and colors about the Mona Lisa, in no way do we ever see the same thing.

No two people ever see anything exactly the same way.

And it sounds so far-fetched, but not only do no two people see anything the same way, no two people focus the same way.

So if you and I are standing next to each other looking at the Mona Lisa, unless we articulate what we're looking at, you have no idea that

I'm looking at all the people around the Mona Lisa and I'm watching them watch the painting and you're looking at the painting.

And if somebody saw the two of us, they'd both say, oh, look, those two people are looking at the Mona Lisa when that's not true at all.

And art is really, it lends itself beautifully to this idea of how we look, how we see, and most importantly, how do we communicate what we see?

Well, there's a big so what, because first of all, when you mentioned the Mona Lisa, it's one of the most famous paintings in the world.

And most people roll their eyes and say, yeah, Mona Lisa's been there, done that.

I've seen it.

I can describe it to you.

But most people really can't.

And so what I'm asking people to do is look at the nuance and the detail in a work of art, because it's the nuance and detail that enables us to differentiate among lots of situations.

So many things.

To give you a prime example, and I'm not going to throw this into the political realm, but we're in an election year now.